It seems clear to me that certain skills get used almost every session. Ranged, perception, Vigilance, Computers, Piloting, maybe even Stealth.

But what about skills that are rarely used, unless a scenario is set up to specificlly use them? What are some clever or unique ways to use them?

Survival comes to mind. The books talks about the ability to scrounge for shelter or food. now, a scenario where you're stranded on Hoth or the deserts of Tatooine seem like obvious choices, but these are rare, one-off scenarios designed to make use of this skill. If you want your Explorer to seem useful, what are some other ways to use this skill?

Another thread mentioned a great use of Knowledge(xenology). Assassination. If a character happens upon a sleeping Gamorrean, he does a xenology check to see the best place to stab him for a quick kill.

When players create characters, often they will choose classes they think they will get a lot of use out of. My players gravitated toward Hired gun and Bounty hunter since combat is inevitable for every session.

What other seldom used skills have you seen that might need special attention?

KNOW: Core Worlds always kind of struck me as an underused skill - especially in a way out at the edge of the universe game.

The Knowledge: Core Worlds skill could easily come up if the PCs are interacting with a plot involving someone or somebodies from the Core Worlds.

I have a player who went with the scholar specialization, so he has all sorts of knowledge-y skills. I try to incorporate this by having him make knowledge checks before I give the players some information about where they are, or a tidbit about a race they are interacting with. I would most likely tell them these things regardless, but incorporating skills into these gives the information some context and makes it a bit more personal.

I'm yet to figure out ways to get skills like agility, athletics, and resilience into the game. My players don't volunteer to use these skills and forcing the checks upon them doesn't seem like a smooth way of incorporating the rarer skills.

There's a sad truth to some of these posts. Usually I or my players pick the usuless skills primarily for fluff purposes. We know that they'll get seldome use, but darn it, my Twi'Lek fringer would know finest university in the Mid Rim Sector!

Every system I've played has some skills that just don't get used that often (everybody remember use rope). I try to make it so even though they don't come up that often, when they're needed, they're really needed. In the old WEG Star Wars, survival covered (among other things) your ability to get your vac. suit on quickly if your ship was holed. I didn't come up often, but boy when it did, you really wanted it.

Every system I've played has some skills that just don't get used that often (everybody remember use rope). I try to make it so even though they don't come up that often, when they're needed, they're really needed. In the old WEG Star Wars, survival covered (among other things) your ability to get your vac. suit on quickly if your ship was holed. I didn't come up often, but boy when it did, you really wanted it.

But even having the skill isnt gaurantee of success. I feel like if a player chose Survival and is just waiting for an opportunity to use it, then fails his first skill check with it...he's going to be even more turned off and regretting his choice.

Never forget the advent of skill substitution. What I mean is this:

Suppose the party is being interracting with a technologically undeveloped race? Knowledge: Xeno would be obvious, but you could allow a Survival check, especially if they are a Hunter/Gatherer society.

Negotiation going poorly? Order up some drinks and get the opposition trashed: Resilience time.

Athletics/Coordination can have some interesting uses. Maybe a promising employer needs to test the group before sending them out? obsticle course. Or at a social event, you're expected to cut the proverbial rug dancing with the locals. Coordination is obvious, but depending on the type of dance it could be Athletics.

One of the key responsibilities of any GM is to make sure you're incorporating your characters skills into the game. Sometimes you'll need to get very creative in order to accomplish this.

I GM'd my first game last night, running a group through Escape from Mos Schuuta.

I'm going to try to keep an eye on some of these lesser-used skills so I can use them more.

In our game, I had the droid PC make a Knowledge roll because he wanted to know why Stormtroopers were chasing them. He failed the roll but got like 3 Advantage, so I told him "sometimes crime lords have connections". If he'd passed I would've told him that he and his party had knowledge that Teemo the Hutt had Imperial connections who worked for him.

At one point a Stormtrooper was shooting at Oskara who was covering the party's escape. The Trooper missed the shot but got a good number of Advantages (3 or 4, I forget), so I had a big power convertor on the side of the building take a stray blaster shot and fall off the side of the building blocking Oskara's escape.

The Wookiee came over to help pull Oskara over the obstacle, so we combined their Athletics and Brawn, using Oskara's Athletics skill and the Wookiee's Brawn.

I think that worked out well, it was fun and exciting!

We have had Athletics come up frequently. Throwing heavy objects (like our Wookiee grabbing and tossing a burning comrade into a nearby pool), jumping, climbing, swimming, and chase scenes on foot - all of these come up frequently in our action scenes.

We also had a "cut the poisonous fish and eat a piece" contest involving Cool (you had to look good doing it or you'd lose face), Knowledge/Xenology (knowing where to cut for the least poisonous bites), Coordination (placing the cut just right), and Resilience (difficulty depending on how well the previous rolls went). Our Trader did amazingly well and impressed his crime boss oppoent so much that he was floated a large loan at an amazingly generous rate. If he can pull off that deal he has in mind before the month is out, he might just get out it wihout a big Debt Obligation...

We have had Athletics come up frequently. Throwing heavy objects (like our Wookiee grabbing and tossing a burning comrade into a nearby pool), jumping, climbing, swimming, and chase scenes on foot - all of these come up frequently in our action scenes.

We also had a "cut the poisonous fish and eat a piece" contest involving Cool (you had to look good doing it or you'd lose face), Knowledge/Xenology (knowing where to cut for the least poisonous bites), Coordination (placing the cut just right), and Resilience (difficulty depending on how well the previous rolls went). Our Trader did amazingly well and impressed his crime boss oppoent so much that he was floated a large loan at an amazingly generous rate. If he can pull off that deal he has in mind before the month is out, he might just get out it wihout a big Debt Obligation...

Holy creativity, Batman!

OK, so I flipped through the skill list. Discipline jumped out. For the most part, it is used to oppose Coercion and Deception. In the listed example of a deal that's "too good to be true," I for my part would not force any action on a player. (though I often wish I could) Even if the character "believes" the deal, the player might decide not to take it. Although, I would not hesitate to remind a player who selected "Ambition: Greed" as a motivator that an immediate payoff would be worth the risk to them.

A clever player could use Discipline to gain advantage in a long negotiation. Example: negotiating with a major domo on Tattooine. Hot, dry desert air is parching both negotiators. A pitcher of water sits on the table between them. The major domo keeps taking drinks while sweating. The smuggler sits calmly (Cool) without the need to drink (Discipline) and gains the upper hand (one or more boost dice) by demonstrating an unwavering willingness to stay at the table as long as it takes.

I don't believe in giving PCs any autoimmunity to interaction skills, so Cool and Discipline get lots of use.

Regarding social interactions, I don't take away control over their characters, but if they fail their Cool / Discipline checks and still decide not to be swayed, I usually give them a couple of Setback dice (depending on how big their failure was) for their next few rolls as they regret their choice of action or are distracted by the thought. That way, failed rolls do have an effect, but the players stay in control.

Regarding scenarios for skills:

So there's a huge, fancy ball with lots of people around. You know that the crime lord will use the crowd to make some secret arrangements with the Imperial governor. Roll Coordination , Charm or Skulduggery for your Twi'lek scoundrel to steer your dancing partner close enough to the conversation so you'll be able to hear it without drawing too much attention. Successes rolled determine how much you can overhear, advantages / threats determine how conspicious your dance moves are.

Later that ball, there are speeches aplenty. One particular boring Ishi Tib official starts a long, winded speech about the depths of imperial bureaucracy and how glad he is for the honor of being present at the ball. Roll Vigilance to resist being lulled and stay alert long enough to see the governor's aide secretly exiting the room.

You follow the aide to a university library where he starts researching certain topics. Unfortunately, the fierce Weequay librarian doesn't recognize you as one of her students and threatens to throw you out or call campus security. Roll Education to convincingly sound enough like a student so she might back down.

man, fantastic ideas in this thread. Lol @ the Education skill being used to talk down a Librarian.

Honestly, if your players have a skill that is seldom used, why not ask them what they want to do with it? If they understand that they can shape the game on their own, they can start making reasons to use it in a game or propose a scenario that they can use it (and you can add in your own touches).

In a game I used to run (using the WEG system), I had a Twi'lekk who was a former slave/dancer turned bodyguard. She had the dance skill and commented that it wasn't being used. After nudging her to be a little more proactive, she started to come up with reasons to use that skill; as a distraction at a bar, as a modifier/in lieu of a seduction skill, a money making skill, or to replace stealth at a club.

Once she realized that she could offer ways to use it to her advantage, even outside of the RAW (like the skill substitution that Tenrousei mentioned), she started to come up with logical ways to use the skill.

This wasn't the only time. In my old d20 game, I had players come up with interesting reasons why they should use a skill, even when I wasn't asking for a roll, just so they can say they used a certain skill.

Promote the creativity and you might find it to be rather fun!

I know that when I played some other RPGs, I'd look at the players sheet before telling them to roll. Then I'd tell them to roll based off of a superior skill, not what you'd normally roll. This was with a kill-'em-all group, so they didn't always ask for explanation (nor did they give any), but it made it more fun to know that even though you didn't get the right skill, there's a reason to do it with your actual skills.

Also, say the players are on the run from Imperials. Turns out the Semi Annual Mos Shuuta Marathon is goin on, so instead of your frail politico making an athletics check, he takes a cool check to fit in with these other skin and bones individuals. He might need to take a resilience check later if he wants to ride this broadcasted marathon away from the Stormies.

The players are traveling near the unkown regions. They find a random hyperlane and ride on to the other side of the rainbow to kill whoevers in the pot of gold (to the protests of the politico and protical droid of the group). When they get on the other side, the protical droid takes a formidable knowledge: education check to know that this is Rakata Prime, the battlefield of the last battle of the Jedi Sith war. When they land, he also takes xenobiology to know about the Rakatans that populate this world.

Really, it's up to the GM to know when a player has an unused skill that should get some notice. Say a player got negotiate, but is always fighting. Bring up dangerous situations where fighting means guaranteed death. Negotiation is the only way to survive. And if a player is never using a skill because the others players botch the job when the unused player gets the chance to use a skill, have consequences occur to the botchers and have the unused player prosper. It not only makes the unused player happy, but tells the others "don't do that." And if a player becomes frustrated because of their character dying, point out that they were the ones who attacked the guy with ten Stormies on his side.

We have had Athletics come up frequently. Throwing heavy objects (like our Wookiee grabbing and tossing a burning comrade into a nearby pool), jumping, climbing, swimming, and chase scenes on foot - all of these come up frequently in our action scenes.

We also had a "cut the poisonous fish and eat a piece" contest involving Cool (you had to look good doing it or you'd lose face), Knowledge/Xenology (knowing where to cut for the least poisonous bites), Coordination (placing the cut just right), and Resilience (difficulty depending on how well the previous rolls went). Our Trader did amazingly well and impressed his crime boss oppoent so much that he was floated a large loan at an amazingly generous rate. If he can pull off that deal he has in mind before the month is out, he might just get out it wihout a big Debt Obligation...

consider me inspired